It's that time of year again. Time to don your favorite green apparel and hit your local pub for some green beer or a pint of Guinness. But why do we celebrate St. Patrick's Day? And what's with all the green?

The history of St. Patty's day as an official holiday dates back to to 1900's although it was celebrated as a national feast day in Ireland as early as the 10th century. St. Patrick, the most famous patron saint of Ireland, is regarded as the principal missionary in bringing Christianity to Ireland, where he used the leaves of the shamrock to teach the doctrine of the holy trinity.

Originally, the color associated with St. Patrick was blue, but to honor him, people would don a shamrock. Then, during a rebellion in 1798, Irish soldiers wore all green uniforms in hopes of drawing attention and support. This was known as 'wearing of the green'. Eventually green overtook blue, and shamrocks and their green color became the norm for those celebrating the day.

St. Patrick's has since spread to all corners of the world. It is widely popular in Canada, USA, Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand, and is even celebrated in Japan and South Korea.

In honor of Veterans Day, GourmetGiftBaskets.com would like to offer our valued customers a chance to give something special back to our troops. For every purchase made on 11/11/11 of $100 or more, GourmetGiftBaskets.com is going to donate one of our very special care packages to an injured soldier at Walter Reed Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, in time for the holiday season!

Yesterday I was brought back to a memory of being ten years old and I had just moved from a concrete urban environment that smelled like bus exhaust to a verdant suburb that smelled like fresh, cut grass. On Saturday mornings, all the men were out mowing their new suburban lawns. Now I closed my eyes and I was ten years old again and playing with my friends in the yard.

Most children experience at least a touch of homesickness when they are away from their families for a week or two. That sadness is quickly forgotten when they receive camp care packages in the mail during their stay at camp. All kids are not the same, so we have collected items for children of various personalities and have an assortment of 10 different camp care packages from which to choose.